Our position hasn’t wavered: We don't support the global BDS movement and we don't agree with the organisations blacklisted by the Israeli government on many issues. But we don’t have to agree with them to know that banning them from visiting Israel is just wrong.

We know that it’s profoundly anti-democratic to discriminate against those who advocate for nonviolent strategies just because the government doesn’t agree with their views. Banning political opposition is the policy of autocracies, not democracies.

The Netanyahu government's Entry Law, which is a travel ban that uses blacklists and litmus tests to bar visitors from entering Israel based on their beliefs, flies in the face of the democratic principles enshrined in Israel's declaration of independence.

Next week, Israeli singer Achinoam Nini touches down in Australia. Some people in the Jewish community don’t want her to perform here. They’re angry she encourages dialogue with Palestinians, works to realise the two-state solution, and supports social justice and human rights groups, including NIF.

Visiting Israeli Member of Knesset Merav Michaeli and Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus answered a question from NIF Board member Irving Wallach about the state of Israel's democracy. Click through to watch it on Facebook.

Let me introduce you to our newest cohort of Naomi Chazan Fellows, our third. They’re in Israel right now, visiting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the Galilee and the West Bank, meeting with some of Israel’s most important social change activists.

Limmud Oz (Sydney – June 10-12) and Yom Limmud (Melbourne – June 18) are back in 2017, and with so much to see we thought we’d offer some suggestion on speakers and sessions you might find interesting.

The New Israel Fund Australia Foundation is a leading organisation committed to social justice, human rights and democracy in Israel. We work with Israelis experiencing poverty, discrimination and injustice to create a more inclusive, tolerant and equal society. Based on the vision of the country’s founders, we work towards an Israel that is “based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel… [and] complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex.”